Dennis Lehane's HarperCollins publishers will soon provide the Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro series author with a view from the other side of the publishing desk. According to an Oct. 10, 2011 press release, the company is giving Lehane his own imprint – Dennis Lehane Books – and the opportunity to identify other writers who, like Lehane, create "literary fiction with a dark urban edge."
Commenting on this new endeavor, Lehane remarked, "My goal is to call attention to worthy writers, who for some unknown reason aren't as popular as they deserve to be. That’s a reason to get out of bed every morning. My background – where I grew up in Boston, the kinds of novels I like to read and write, my time spent as a writer on ‘The Wire’ – will influence the kinds of books I acquire. But I just want to publish good work – an enthralling story gracefully told."
Lehane's novels have been published by HarperCollins’ William Morrow imprint for the past 17 years. Liate Stehlik, William Morrow Senior Vice President and Publisher, considers Lehane "a treasured house author." "In a world where computer algorithms and screen placement often replace in-store recommendations," Stehlik adds, "having a line of books with a talented and highly regarded writer like Dennis is a great way to help readers discover what to read next."
Lehane's interest in the nature and consequences of urban crime is evident in his choice of Boston as the backdrop for the majority of his works. He set his debut novel, A Drink before the War (1994) there, as well as the subsequent five novels in his Kenzie and Gennaro series – Darkness, Take My Hand (1996), Sacred (1997), Gone, Baby, Gone (1998), Prayers for Rain (1999) and Moonlight Mile (2010). Among Lehane’s standalone works, both Any Given Day (2008) and Mystic River (2001) also share that locale.
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